Trimethyltin Increases Choline Acetyltransferase in Rat Hippocampus
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
1-1-1991
Description
The environmental neurotoxin trimethyltin (TMT) destroys parts of the hippocampal formation as well as the entorhinal cortex but leaves the septal cholinergic projection to the hippocampus and dentate gyrus intact. In this study we measured choline acetyltransferase (ChAT) activity in micropunch samples of the dentate gyrus, the CA1 region of Ammon's horn, and the caudate-putamen as a measure of density of cholinergic innervation in control rats and rats exposed to 7 mg/kg TMT by means of gastric intubation. Three months after the rats were exposed to a single dose of TMT both the dentate gyrus and CA1 demonstrated significantly higher ChAT activity in TMT-exposed rats than in control rats. No differences were found between groups for the caudate-putamen samples. These results support the hypothesis that exposure to TMT causes reactive synaptogenesis in the cholinergic septohippocampal system.
Citation Information
Cannon, Richard L.; Hoover, Donald B.; and Woodruff, Michael L.. 1991. Trimethyltin Increases Choline Acetyltransferase in Rat Hippocampus. Neurotoxicology and Teratology. Vol.13(2). 241-244. https://doi.org/10.1016/0892-0362(91)90017-Q PMID: 2046642 ISSN: 0892-0362